Stark's Seclusion
by tt22123
Summary: Tony hides himself away after a mission not letting anyone come into the lab. That is until JARVIS decided that Tony was wrong and that Steve should go see him without delay. Stony story. Trigger warnings; self harming, self-starvation
1. CopyRight

Any characters portrayed within this story do not belong to me, I am merely borrowing them for their oh so amazing original authors. I do not make any money from this story and it is not to be published or to be used for others purposes other than reading on this site where I have posted it. The original author has all right to this story and I do not claim to own anything other than the plot. I wish I owned the world and the characters but alas I am a book binder/restorer, not an author.


	2. Chapter 1

Tony had not left the lab for over a week and the rest of the team were very worried about him but none as much as Steve, more commonly known as Captain America, less well known as Tony Stark's boyfriend. They were used to him locking himself away after a mission so that he could make repair the suit but normally he would be done within 4 or 5 days, even then he would make appearances for food every couple of days, although they all knew that he would have enough food stashed around the lab so they weren't worried too much when he did this.

The last mission had been particularly hard on the team so they understood that Tony may have needed longer on the suit but after a week of no shows they couldn't help but think that something was wrong however they knew, after many attempts, that Tony made JARVIS keep them locked out of the lab.

For that very reason Steve was shocked when he heard JARVIS ring out on his floor of the tower, "Captain, I think you should head down to the lab as quick as you can. I've overridden my commands to keep everyone out. You can't delay." As soon as JARVIS had finished talking Steve took off running down the stairs.

Upon reaching the lab he didn't pause before throwing open the door, pleased that JARVIS had truly done as he had said. He instantly began scanning the room around him as he walked further into the lab, finally spotting Tony's legs poking out from behind a desk.

He headed towards him and was shocked at the sight that befell him upon reaching the man. Tony was sat with only the desk behind him keeping him upright and with no top on allowing Steve to see just how much weight Tony had lost over the last week, as well as how many cuts had appeared on his arms and torso since the last mission.

Steve moved quickly to get the nearest first aid kit, after checking for a pulse, before cleaning the cuts up and then patching up the worst of them all. Once he handled the blood loss he moved the knife away from him and Tony and lead Tony on the ground before attempting to wake the man next to him.

"Tony? Tony?" He began tapping on the man's cheek at which he started stirring so Steve picked him up and started moving them towards the sofa rather than the floor.

"Steve?" Cap was never so pleased to hear that voice.

"Yeah Tony, it's me. I'm here." Tony began to feel incredibly guilty for what he had done to himself without thinking of anyone else so tears began to fall. Steve took notice of this immediately and wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"I'm so sorry Steve. I screwed up. It was my fault that our last mission went as bad as it did. I should've done more. I should have fought harder. You were right when you said that I was just a man in a suit, I shouldn't be on the team with the rest of you. I can't tell you how sorry I am for shutting you out for the last week, I understand if you hate me now."

"Shh, shh, shh baby. It was not your fault, I can promise you that. We didn't have enough intel before we went into that fight, there was no way we could have known that they had gifted on their side. As for this," he said gesturing to Tony's arms, "don't do this to yourself again. Please talk to me in future, I want to keep you safe but I can't keep you safe from yourself unless you let me help you." With these final words he moved to place a kiss against each of Tony's arms. "Come on, let's get something to eat, just some soup or something?"

Tony gave Steve a quick hug before moving to get a top to put on before he and Steve went upstairs for food. "How'd you get in by the way? I'm not missing a wall or something because you pounded your way in am I?"

"JARVIS."

"I suppose I should thank him for that."

"I think he already knows."

The two of them decided against the communal floor and took the elevator straight up to their private floor to eat there. Tony sat down at the counter while Steve looked through the fridge for the ingredients he wanted. He whipped up a quick soup for the two of them to eat as it was filling but not hard on your stomach. The two of them ate in a comfortable silence before deciding to head to bed as soon as they had finished eating.

Steve laid down on his back while Tony led next to him with his head on Steve's shoulder and one arm around his waist. Tony took comfort in the slow peaceful heartbeat of his supersoldier.

"I love you Tony."

"I love you too Steve, don't leave me. I'm sorry, that was needy."

"You may think that was needy but it's fine because I need you too. Now sleep, we'll talk more tomorrow, I promise. Goodnight gorgeous."

"Goodnight handsome."

That night Steve slept peacefully knowing that Tony was safe in his arms while Tony slept well in the knowledge that Steve still cared even after he had seen how Tony had treated himself the last week, both with smiles on their faces.


	3. Chapter 2

Steve woke up but decided against moving anywhere as he saw the little bundle curled up in a ball against his chest still sleeping soundly. He began carding his fingers through Tony's hair as he slept, thinking about the events from the night before. Steve knew with all his heart that he never wanted to see Tony in that state again, passed out in a pool of his own blood, by his own hand. In so much pain- physical and emotional- because of a mission gone wrong. Blaming himself for something that he had no control over, taking it out on himself.

Subconsciously Steve tightened his arm around Tony causing the man to wake. "I'm sorry Tony, go back to sleep," he whispered when he realised what he had done.

"I don't want to go back to sleep but can we lay here for a little bit anyways. I'm comfy and I just want to spend some time with you."

"We can stay here for a while but we've got to eat at some point." With these words Tony shifted so that he lay between Steve's legs and propped himself up on his elbows on Steve's chest so that he could look him in the eyes.

After several minutes of just looking into Steve's eyes Tony broke the gaze and looked down at his own arms, laden with white bandages. "I truly am sorry for this Steve," said man followed Tony's gaze to look at the others arms as well. "I didn't think that anyone would care, I screwed up on that mission so I thought people would be glad that wouldn't happen again without me to fuck it all up. No one likes me anyway, not really, they like the genius, the billionaire."

"You have nothing to be sorry for baby. I hate that I found you like that but only because I wasn't there to help you when you needed it, I feel bad that you were going through all of this on your own. Of course people would care, I told you last night, you did nothing wrong on that mission. We weren't told all the facts and as soon as we found out you handled the situation amazingly. Besides even if no one else liked you, I do. Actually strike that, I don't like you. I love you, I can't imagine life without you, I always used to think that I just hadn't found the right woman before but that's not right. I wasn't waiting for the right girl, I was waiting for YOU. I love you Tony Stark, you are mine and I am yours, always. I am 98-years-old, I think that I should know what I'm talking about. 98, and I waited for you, you are the only person I have ever loved like this, and will ever love like this. You are perfect as you are. I love you." Tony felt the tell-tale prickle of tears in his eyes as Steve said these words. He lowered his head and captured Steve's lips with his own in a quick kiss which he tried to use to show Steve how much his words meant to him.

"I love you too Steve. Besides, you may be 98, but you were on ice for 70 of those years. Thank you though. I needed to hear that."

"Those 70 years still count. I was waiting for the right person I just didn't find you until now, and I am definitely glad that I did find you. All that time on the ice I thought I had found the person for me, it wasn't until I met you that I realised how wrong I was. You're the only person I want to dance with Tony."

"You're the only one that I want to dance with too Steve." With that Steve flipped the two of them over, trapping Tony beneath his body, only allowing his arms and head to move. Tony moved his arms up around Steve's neck and pulled the bigger man down until their bodies were so close not even a feather could get between them.

Tony sucked Steve's lower lip between his own before pulling him in to a deep and passionate kiss. They kept kissing until they had to break apart for air, Steve remembered that the plan was for breakfast when he heard Tony's stomach growl loudly and so stood with a small chuckle offering a hand to the smaller man.

"Pancakes?" Steve asked while moving towards their private kitchen not bothering to put a top on so simply moving about the room in just a pair of sweat pants that he slept in, still managing to exude grace and power simultaneously while Tony once again looked on from the counter.

"Delicious. Pancakes sound good too," Tony said with a wink towards the supersoldier earning him a quick swat to the side of his thigh but a stunning smile alongside it.

Steve worked around Tony who was sitting up next to the oven, occasionally feeding Tony blueberries and other fruits that he had got out to go on top of their pancakes. Once they were cooked and plated he placed the plates on the breakfast bar in front of two stalls before moving back to Tony, standing between his legs and wrapping his arms around his waist. Tony placed his legs around Steve, hooking his ankles together behind the taller man preventing him from moving away. Steve used this to his advantage though by picking Tony up with ease and moving him to one of the stalls.

Once they reached the stalls Tony still did not release Steve though so Steve decided just to sit down and pull the second plate towards the two of them as Tony ended up in the captains lap when he sat. Deciding he could accept that develop that he cut off a piece of one of the pancakes, stabbing it with a fork along with a couple of berries he raised the fork to Steve's mouth for him to take the first bite.

They continued breakfast in this manner, feeding one another, until all of the food was gone. Once they had eaten all of the pancakes that Steve had cooked Tony leant forward and initiated a kiss between the two of them, slipping his tongue between Steve's lips. "I was right."

"Hmm?"

"You and the pancakes, both delicious."


End file.
